Letters Home

Kristin Strickland History 370 Book Essay bump into 21, 2013 Letters from Vietnam I found that trying to find a reserve to state about the Vietnam War was rather difficult because there argon so many of them out there. I chose Letters from Vietnam edited by Bill Adler because it was a point of cod from many soldiers in the warfare and they were what they were truly impression at the time. It is not 1 point of view when you read this many earns and a little background on each of the authors, exclusively there are many points of views, feelings and emotions to help us better fancy what they were going through emotionally and physically small-arm overseas.When I first opened the book to the introduction section I was not sure what I was going to find because a draw play of times they filter what is out there for us to read or stick to one scheme. This book has went any should us how many of the great deal felt and under different schemes. I know that Dr. Lofthus always says, a picture is price a thousand words, duration in class merely reading someone elses words is worth much more and when done correctly you can feel what they were feeling when they wrote them.One of the first earns that I read that really stuck out and make me understand that they had to define things to their families and explain what some terms and other things were that peradventure they were hearing from the news stations, was a letter written by setoff Lieutenant James Michener. He wrote the letter in the book while he was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam from 1966-1967. The letter was date November 17, 1966 from Tuy Hoa, Vietnam and he starts by explaining the reason that he hasnt written in a while is because he was away from his base for over a week.He goes on to say, We were there to furnish air support to units of the IV (Fourth) understructure Division (Ivy Division) and the 101st Airborne Division ( thigh-slapper Eagles). These units were making a general sweep of an a rea about one hundred miles square. They were looking for Victor Charlie (VC) thats what we call him. While inaugural Lieutenant Michener was writing letters to his family he explained many things about what he was seeing to having his helicopter hit with a bullet. You could tell from his letters that he was fighting for what he believes in. In the chapter titled Reflection, Sgt.David Glading writes a letter home to his girlfriend. He goes on to write, Its a beautiful night, moons out, stars, and no clouds, ya dont even need a flashlight. I had that finished reading the paper and found a poem, so Im sending it along. You know, you hear and read about all the things that go on over here, but dont really understand or believe them until you see it. Ive seen old men cleave women, girls, little boy, and young men, Ive seen the dead and wounded, and Ive seen little children battle cry when their fathers are taken away. I could not imagine writing a letter like that back home to a loved one.It would be hard to tell them the things that I have seen or how I was feeling. I would want to lie so that they thought I was ok and that everything was fine, but many of these letters if not all can be read and not snap off families the reassurance that they need. I want to end by truism that I received many letters and emails from my husband while he was in Iraq. He never once let on if anything was wrong. He always asked about our kids or how I was doing. He would tell me when he wanted a new picture or socks, but he never let on as to what he saw until afterwards he was home.He would always reassure me that things were fine when the news would say something else, or when one of our aircraft from the base crashed he would call and tell me he was fine. I am not sure how I would handle a letter like these if they were sent to me. I did not live through that era, but I am sure that it helped them let the things off their chests and out of their minds so that they coul d continue what they were doing and not have all that accumulated inside. It is good to get it out and now we have all of these wonderful letters to give us an idea and understanding of what they all faced during the Vietnam Era.